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Rudo wakes up to his hands hurting and his head throbbing.
He groans, dragging heavy hands to press on his eyes, trying to shut out the dull light coming in through the window. Earlier, he had been shadowing a mission Riyo had been sent on, and that’s when he first noticed the extra heavy feeling around his eyes and lingering in his hands. That had been the first sign.
The second had been when his head and hands throbbed in tandem so violently, the trash he had been using as a weapon disintegrated into ash. Blood roared in his ears as he stared at the ash drifting away, and his vision tunneled on the slight, yet familiar tremor that had occupied his arms. The ground felt like it was swaying slightly, and the air was weirdly warm. Riyo’s scissors pierced through the small ram looking trash beast that had been getting closer to him. He barely noticed, so focused on the sudden feeling of dull pain behind his eyes.
“You okay there Rudo? You don’t usually have problems with your Jinki like that,” Riyo wondered, a worried furrow appearing between her brows. The glow was beginning to fade from her eyes, but concern still shone in them.
Rudo rubbed at his eyes as the light suddenly stabbed into them. “Um, yeah… I think it’s the lack of sleep finally getting to me.” He answered after a long, awkward minute. Riyo narrowed her eyes at him, not believing him for a second. The boy was always lacking in the sleep department, but it never hindered him like that before. Despite this, she didn’t push him, since she knew there were reasons people would avoid answering with truth.
“Alright then! Let’s check with Gris and then head back to HQ. Maybe you’ll start to feel better.” Riyo suggested, hoisting her scissors out of the dirt and spinning in the direction of the Supporters. Rudo silently followed her, soundlessly wincing as his hands gave a sharp twinge of pain as he let them fall to his sides.
If he was a bit quieter on the ride back, no one asked. Especially at the side-eye Riyo would cast whenever someone cast a worried look at Rudo and began to open their mouths. Almost as soon as they were back at HQ, Rudo had quickly slipped away under a half-baked excuse of fixing up some trash. Once he was back in his room, he hit the pillows and fell asleep for once.
Now, evening sun was settling in his room, but even that was too bright for his sensitive eyes. Every limb felt heavy and like it was glued to the bed, and his head was killing him. His hands hurt, and he bit back a whine bubbling in the back of his throat. It was fine, his hands had hurt worse before, he could still move. Which he decided to do as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Instantly, chills seized his body, and he felt the world tip dangerously to the side. His throat was dry, and his head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me, how did I get sick?’ Rudo thought to himself, catching himself on weak arms as he started to tip to the side. That motion made him remember his hands had been hurting as the weight sent sharp twinges of pain shooting up his arms, across his shoulders, and straight into his skull. It caused him to gasp, which caused him to start coughing as he collapsed back onto his bed. As he lay there, gasping for breath back, a thought struck him hard in the chest.
'What do I do?’
In the past when he had gotten sick, Regto had been by his side to help him and take care of the fierce fevers that would cling to his skin. But now, Regto was dead- had been murdered- and he couldn’t tell anyone in the Cleaners. He was supposed to be stronger than this. His hands gave another sharp twinge, and the whine escaped from between his clenched teeth. No, he could handle this on his own. No reason to concern the others and drag them down with his problems. All he had to do was sleep this off and he’d be good as new by tomorrow.
The only problem was actually getting to sleep, but he could figure that out after he fully regained control over his breathing.
There was a sudden and loud knocking on the door, and Rudo winced as the sound echoed in his head, making the throbbing worse. He tried to bury his head further into the blanket on his bed, but that didn’t block out Zanka’s voice nor did it stop his knocking on the door.
“Oi, turd face! Riyo said she hasn’t seen ya since earlier! It’s time for dinner too, so get yer ass into gear!” Zanka called loudly, and Rudo groaned, roughly dragging his hands through his matted hair. Forcing himself to his feet and willing himself not to fall over, Rudo shuffled over to the door. The banging on it continued to loudly echo in his mind, and he threw the door open with a growl, catching Zanka in mid-knock. The older teens’ mouth was open to start yelling again, but he froze as his eyes flickered over Rudo, and he silently winced. “What happened to ya? Ya look like shit.” He said, frown pulling at his face.
Rudo glowered at him, leaning on his doorway once the world started spinning again. “I just woke up dirtbag.” Rudo hissed, choking back a cough forming in the back of his throat. Zanka had a look on his face that could only be considered slight disgust as he took in Rudo again, noting how his skin was paler than usual and how his eyes looked watery.
Zanka shook his head, clutching his Lovely Assistaff closer to himself, resisting the urge to feel the kid’s forehead. “Nah, I mean… yer looking… gross.” The word fell out of his mouth before he could think of anything better, and they both winced at the poor word choice. He watched Rudo shift his weight, just slightly so he was leaning even more on the doorframe and noted how the kid seemed to be squinting from the light of the halls. With a gross sounding sniffle, Rudo squinted at Zanka.
“Well, you’re gross looking.” He mumbled when he couldn’t think of a proper response. His hands were really starting to hurt, and his headache only seemed to be building as the pain in his hands grew.
Zanka grimaced. “Well, whatever. Are ya comin’ to dinner or no?” When a few long seconds went by without any reaction from the kid, Zanka reached a hand towards him. When he flinched back, Zanka frowned. “Rudo,” he started, lowering his voice slightly. Rudo blinked, some clarity returning back to his eyes.
“Hmm?”
“’m gonna get ya some water, go lay back down. Ya clearly aren’t feelin’ too well. Just try to get some rest.” Zanka sighed, spinning on his heel and quickly walking away. Rudo slowly blinked after him, confusion seeping through his muddled thoughts. Once Zanka’s words finally got through his mind, he slowly moved back to his bed and crawled under the blanket. Combined with the chills racking his body and the pain radiating from everywhere, Rudo was quickly slipping back into a heavy darkness.
}{}{}{
Rudo’s hands were on fire. They were on fire, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Opening his eyes was a painful task, but he still peeled them open, only to find his gloves missing… what? Where are his gloves? Did he lose them? He couldn’t have! Regto gave him those gloves, and they were his very important treasure! No! Where were his gloves? Where were they where were they wherewerethey- “
Rudo, breathe.” A calm, collected voice instantly soothed the thunder in his ears. Rudo cracked his eyes open again- wait, when did they close? - to see a blurry outline of Regto at their leaky sink. He turned around with a familiar item lightly wrapped in a towel. A whine bubbled up his throat at the sight of them, and his fingers twitched like they wanted to reach out and grab them. Regto sighed lightly, sitting on the table in front of the couch. “I know, baby, but I had to wash them. They were getting dirty, and I figured I would just wash them after changing your bandages. It’ll be okay, just another few minutes, alright?”
A warm hand gently brushed through Rudo’s hair, and he subconsciously leaned into it, chasing the warmth that came with it. Regto chuckled softly, but when it turned into a wet cough, Rudo snapped his eyes open. His dad was no longer sitting in front of him, but sprawled on the floor with a gaping hole in his chest. Blood was pooling underneath him and spreading across the floor, and a cloaked figure had Rudo’s gloves in their hand.
All consuming anger rushed through Rudo’s ears at the sight of that mask. He tried to push himself off the couch, to chase after his gloves and to attack the person who just killed his dad, but his hands were burning and he tumbled off the couch, banging his elbow on the hard floor. He hissed in pain, but forced himself to keep struggling, anything if it put him closer to that murderer. Just as he got his feet underneath him, something grabbed his shoulder. Turning around, he saw faceless people standing there. Gone was Regto, but his blood was still there. Gone was the cloaked figure and his gloves, but his all-consuming rage remained.
“Let me go!” Rudo tried to scream, but his voice came out broken and pleading. Weak. Hands tugged him back where he fought to move forward, and the more he struggled, the more he was pulled back. “No! Let me go, it wasn’t me! Help Regto! Let me go! REGTO!” Rudo’s throat was raw from how loud he yelled, but it was all in vain as he was dragged into darkness.
}{}{}{
Rudo shot up with a sharp gasp and flew into a coughing fit. He felt his lungs spasming, and the first thing Rudo blindly sought out were his gloves. They were still sitting on his hands, and he let out a slow, shaky breath in relief. His head was pounding, and cold sweat rolled down his uncomfortably warm skin. As he struggled to regain control over his breathing, Rudo wondered.
‘Should I go find one of the others? They probably wouldn’t mind…’ Almost instantly, he was shaking his head, which sent dark spots across his vision. No, this wasn’t something he needed to bother them with. Plus, it was dark out now, so they must be asleep by now. He didn’t want to be a burden to them, so this could be something he dealt with on his own. Seeing the glass of water Zanka must have left behind earlier, Rudo reached for it, taking small sips. The cool liquid was a relief on his dry and scratchy throat, and he sighed as he set the glass back down. Water had spilt over the sides from how shaky his hands were, but he ignored it in favor of curling back under his blanket and pressing his eyes shut. At least the throbbing in his hands didn’t hurt as much.
His vision still spun every time he opened his eyes, and it made his head throb and his stomach clench. Had him clenching his teeth and curling his tingling hands into tight fists, hoping the dizziness would pass.
The next time he woke up, everything was burning, and it had him throwing his blanket off like it was made of flames. He tried to scramble away from it and almost fell out the bed. His hands twinged painfully, and he hissed at the feeling. His vision was swaying more than before, and everything looked like it was in a haze. Blinking sluggishly, Rudo pushed himself to his feet, tipping dangerously before catching himself. The cold floor was a relief to his flaming skin, and with cold relief sticking to his sluggish brain, he reached for the glass, only to realize it was empty. Frowning. Rudo blinked slowly, before pushing himself forward and slowly beginning to shuffle out of his room.
The door was heavier than usual, and prying it open sent vicious sparks of pain through his hands and arms, straight into his skull and causing it to throb more than what it was already doing. Rudo groaned, his bones feeling heavy at just making noise. Why did getting sick on the Ground feel worse than it was on the Sphere? Maybe it was because Regto was no longer here, and would never be here again. That thought drove a painful wedge in his heart that he wasn’t ready to face, so Rudo shook his head, trying to clear his vision if the haze that had overtaken it, and rebegan his process of moving down the hall to get water.
He quickly lost focus on where he was walking and just let his feet drag him down the hall. The number of things bombarding him made his already slow and muddled thoughts become overwhelmed, and with the fever burning at his skin, hands burning with pain, and thoughts of Regto flashing behind his eyes with every slow blink, the halls blurred together. The halls were silent, only illuminated by the dimmed overhead lights. He was suddenly stopping at a closed door, but with the haze clouding his vision and pain filling his thoughts, he couldn’t make out what the door would lead him to.
In the corner of his eye, a flash of white that had him harshly flinching. ‘They’re here for me! They won’t take me away from Regto!’ His thoughts snarled, and Rudo distantly felt himself baring his teeth as his shoulder slammed into the door. The metal was cold enough to get through his thick jacket, and it shocked him back into the present to realize nothing was there. Belatedly, Rudo realized darkness was creeping into his vision faster than he thought, and he was in a fast-losing battle. Distantly, the last thing he processed was metal giving away behind him, and a faint cry of alarm.
}{}{}{
Enjin had just finished toweling his hair dry when a strange feeling of unease started tugging at him. He frowned, glancing at the time. It was just shy of twelve, and he knew all of the kids had gone to bed, so what was with the feeling of unease? Maybe it was the lingering unease of Riyo and Zanka both coming to him separately to express concern for their local gremlin. He was going to check on the kid earlier but couldn’t due to being pulled away for a last-minute mission. He had just gotten back to HQ, and had been pondering if he should go check on the kid and chance waking the light sleeper. Catching a Ground sickness after living his whole life on the Sphere must be doing numbers to his immune system.
Just as he made his mind up and was reaching for Umbreaker, he heard a thud against his door. Immediately, Enjin was on guard, but that feeling of worry only amplified as he cautiously approached the door. For a few seconds, he sat with his hand on the door handle, trying to hear for anything out in the hall. When he didn’t hear anything, he threw open the door and was instantly met with a head of white hair and pale skin falling into his room.
“Woah- Rudo?!” Enjin spluttered, wasting no time in catching the boy in his arms. His frown deepened when he got no reaction except for wheezed breathing, and he peered at the boy. His eyes were cracked slightly, but they were hazy, and Enjin could tell Rudo wouldn’t actually hear him. Bringing a hand up to feel his forehead, he winced at the heat burning his hand. “Jeez kid, you’ve sure got one hell of a fever here.” The thought of going and waking Eisha was quickly dismissed, Enjin didn’t want to wake the girl and send her in a flurry of worry about this. With a sigh, Enjin gently placed one hand behind Rudo’s knees and the other on his back and lifted him.
The kid was alarmingly light, but Enjin pushed that thought away for a later time in effort to focus on Rudo now. He returned to the connecting bathroom, bumping the door open with his hip and setting Rudo on the lid of the toilet. Crouching down, he gently pats the side of the kid’s face and watched his eyes flutter open. Enjin smiled gently, brushing his fingers through the kid’s bangs. “Hey kid, mind if we take your sweater off? I want to get you in the bath, see if we can chase off some of this fever. It’ll make you feel better,”
For a long minute, Rudo didn’t respond. When he started to nod off again, Enjin gently tapped his temple, getting him to open his eyes with a whine. “I know, you probably are feeling really crappy right now, but I promise we can fix it up pretty soon—” Enjin paused, registering the soft sound of jingling, just before he heard his bedroom door swing open.
“Enjin?” Riyo called, and he picked up on the sound of distress in her voice. By the sounds of it, Zanka was with her, probably with Lovely Assistaff clutched in his hands.
Enjin sighed fondly. “I’m in here,” he called, and within seconds, the bathroom door was fully swinging open and revealing the other two kids in their full, just awoken glory. The worry glistening in Riyo’s eyes softened when she saw Rudo sitting half-conscious on the toilet. ‘Bingo. These boogers were worried.’ Enjin thought fondly, trying his damn hardest not to smugly grin at them. He didn’t fully pull it off as he shot the two a grin, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you two awake? I thought you two had already went to bed?”
Zanka huffed, crossing his arms. “Riyo came an’ woke me up jus’ ta check on the booger muncher, jus’ ta see he wasn’ in his room anymore.” He complained, though Enjin heard the thinly veiled concern in his voice. Riyo shoulder checked him as she waltzed into the bathroom, drawing another indignant huff from Zanka.
“I heard him get up earlier, but I never heard him come back so I went to check on him, but he wasn’t there. Zanka came cause he heard me freaking out. But it was only a little freak out.” Riyo added, sticking her tongue out at Zanka and peering at Rudo. Her eyes raked over his face, taking in his extra deep eye bags and paler than normal skin, and the red flush in his cheeks. “He really caught something nasty, huh.” She mused. Her eyes flickered to the bathtub then to Enjin. “You trying to get him into water and cool him down?”
“Yeah, but he isn’t responding, so I’m just gonna pop him in there and hope for the best.” Enjin shrugged, moving to ease the sweater off Rudo. He felt the other two staring at him, and caught them shifting on their feet from the corner of his eye. He smiled to himself. ‘These damn kids. Doing everything but admitting how much they care.’ Finally getting the sweater off Rudo, Enjin stood and turned the water on, setting it to a lukewarm temperature. “Zanka, ya’ mind grabbing a new set of clothes for the kid from his room?”
“Of course, Enjin!” Zanka visibly brightened and took off out the room, socked feet nearly silent against the floor. Enjin crouched back in front of Rudo, trying to catch his eyes.
“Hey buddy, can I take your gloves off? It’s about time your hands got rewrapped too,” Engin asked, surprising even himself at how soft his voice was. Rudo’s breath hitched, and he leaned back, fingers twitching in his lap. Enjin spied the movement and looked at Riyo. “Mind grabbing the fever reducers and painkillers? Looks like it’s also one of those nights.”
Riyo hummed and moved a few steps away, rummaging around in one of the cabinets to look for what was asked. Enjin refocused on Rudo, frowning at the slight fear shining in his eyes. “Hey, it’s just me, Riyo, and Zanka, who will be back soon. We’ve seen your hands before, yeah? They aren’t scary or ugly, so let’s get you a fresh wrapping and under the shower, okay?”
Silent tears had started slipping down Rudo’s face, but he held one hand up, despite how badly it was shaking. Enjin grinned thankfully at him, and began to gently remove the gloves from his trembling hands. Riyo came back over and coaxed Rudo to swallow the medicine with some water. Once that was done and Enjin began unwrapping his hands, Riyo began to gently run her hands through Rudo’s hair, humming gently to herself.
Enjin had to school his expression, but it was always difficult to keep the anger and grief off his face when he saw Rudo’s blackened hands. By the time Zanka was returning, bandages littered the floor, and Rudo was starting to sway. He sighed through his nose and set the spare change of clothes on the counter- neatly folded, Enjin noted- and came to help Riyo balance Rudo as Enjin worked his undershirt and pants off to gently set him in the bathtub.
A high-pitched whine escaped from Rudo, and it had all three of them flinching in sympathy. Enjin adjusted the temperature and began to run the water over Rudo, whose skin became covered in goosebumps. Riyo lifted herself to sit on the counter, with Zanka leaning next to her. Both of them had their eyes trained on Rudo, watching for even the slightest change in reaction. Enjin wanted to scoff at them, but even his eyes were trained on the kid. The worry was rightfully heavy in the air, all of them worried about how a Ground sickness was going to affect their newest member.
When Rudo began to mumble something, they all glanced at each other in confusion. Enjin tilted his head as he turned the water off. Rudo was still mumbling, but now they could hear what he had been saying. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was going to handle it—”
Zanka huffed in mock irritation, picking up a fluffy towel and stepping over into the small space beside the tub. “Yer such an idiot. ‘t was gonna to happen eventually ya dummy.” He grumped, running the towel over Rudo’s hair, bringing it back to its fluffiness. Rudo slowly blinked at him, Zanka’s words probably traveling like molasses through his mind.
“Yeah Rudo, should’ve seen the last time me or Zanka got sick. Personally, I couldn’t leave my room for a week, and it was Seimu that had to get me up and out.” Riyo snickered, crowding into the small space and threading some of her hair cream through Rudo’s hair once Zanka finished drying it. Enjin caught her brushing a hand against his forehead, and the worried crease disappearing as she noted how his skin had lost a lot of its heat. Rudo hummed, eyes drooping steadily faster.
Enjin lifted him from the tub, and the three worked to remove the rest of his clothing, dry his off, and put the new, loose clothes Zanka had brought in for Rudo. He huffed softly and dug his face into the soft sweater that had been brought for him. Enjin was struck with the thought of how he looked like a sleepy kitten with that action, at the same time that he realized-
“That’s my sweater!” Enjin guffawed, turning to Zanka and watching the kid roll his eyes at him and give no further elaboration. Riyo giggled at their expressions, and Enjin reached over to ruffle Zanka’s hair, ignoring his protests. “Good job kid.” He praised, grinning at the bright expression that took over the worry in his eyes. “I think this calls for a cuddle night!” Enjin declared softly, grabbing the numbing cream and a roll of bandages.
“I don’t want to trouble you with that…” Rudo mumbled, swaying on his feet with closed eyes. Riyo clicked her tongue at him, guiding him out of the bathroom and back into Enjin’s room.
“Maybe ya do, since ya can’t seem to watch out for yerself. I will be headin’ back to my own room—” Zanka was cut off with an undignified yelp as Riyo tackled him onto Enjin’s bed with a devious laugh. “Stop Riyo, I don’ wanna catch the turd lickers sickness! EW, did ya just lick my hand?! Riyo!” He exclaimed, wrestling to try and get Riyo off him.
Pushing Rudo into one of his sitting chairs, Enjin rubbed the numbing cream into Rudo’s hands and up his arms before gently rewrapping them. Then, he slid his gloves, his beloved treasure, back onto his hands. Running a hand through Rudo’s hair, Enjin turned back to the other two rugrats with a smug grin. “Don’t ya worry Zan-Zan! His fever is pretty much gone now, so he shouldn’t be contagious. Call it a group bonding activity.” He snickered at Zanka’s outburst and pulled Rudo up. He steered Rudo towards the bed where the other two had finally settled down, one grumpier than the other.
“Plus, we can’t turn down taking advantage of Enjin’s fluffy blankets!” Riyo giggled, lightly drapping one around Rudo once she finally got him to lay down next to her. She ran her hands through his hair, smiling contentedly as the concern finally dropped off her expression and from her shoulders.
“As if y’all don’t already have my blankets in your rooms.” Enjin grumbled lightheartedly, crawling into the bed with a sigh. Zanka huffed, putting himself at the end of the bed, practically draped over and between their legs. How comfortable that was going to be, Enjin had no idea. But, he didn’t hesitate to drape a blanket over Zanka and cover Riyo with the rest of his own blanket. The two of them let out content sighs, and Enjin couldn’t stop the soft smile from spreading across his face. “Get some sleep, it’s been a long hour.”
“Night Enjin.” Riyo yawned, shuffling closer to the top of Enjin’s head from where she lay semi-curled around Rudo’s head. Zanka grumbled, but he yawned too, and his eyes easily slid shut. Laying down after switching the bedside lamp off, Enjin fondly huffed to himself.
‘These kids are gonna be the death of me,’ He thought, reaching over to pat Riyo’s head, then pat Zanka’s leg, then lastly patting Rudo’s hair.
“Thanks guys… thanks Enjin…” Rudo whispered softly, voice indicating he was barely holding on to consciousness anymore. Enjin smiled as Riyo curled around him just a bit more and as Zanka rolled just a bit closer.
“Of course, kid, you’re family now.” Enjin mused, letting his own eyes slide shut. He waited another few minutes for the soft snores to fill the room before letting sleep claim him.
}{}{}{
Rudo woke up to warmth. It wasn’t the stuffy kind from earlier, but a comforting, safe kind of warmth. It reminded him of Regto, and with that thought, he cracked his eyes open. Only to find himself not in his room and not by himself. Riyo had somehow starfished herself above his head, and Zanka was closer to the foot of the bed, his legs draped across Rudo’s legs. His head was pillowed on Enjin’s calf. Enjin, who had his hand buried in Rudo’s hair.
The memories from last night flooded his mind, and heat quickly crept up his neck. But… his hands weren’t hurting anymore, his head had stopped throbbing, and the world had stopped swaying. Rudo felt great, and it was warm, and the others hadn’t found him to be a burden, even at twelve this morning. Rudo was slowly getting better at letting himself show and be shown affection, so instead of pulling away like he initially would’ve, he let himself relax again, drifting back to a content, safe sleep.
'Thanks guys… I’m doing okay down here Regto, don’t worry.'